Mahmut Muhiti

Who is Mahmut Muhiti?

Mahmut Muhiti was Commander-in-chief of 6th Uyghur Division and Deputy Chief of the Kashgar Military Region who opposed Sheng Shicai's 1937 Stalinist purge of Xinjiang province during the Islamic rebellion in Xinjiang.

Prior to the rebellion, Muhiti resented the increased Soviet influence in Xinjiang and formed a secret group around himself. Fearing an alliance between Muhiti and General Ma Hushan, Sheng moved against Muhiti, who fled to Srinagar in India. After Muhiti reached Srinagar, he went on pilgrimage to Mecca the following year. He was said to have gone to Japan via steamboat from India and asked the Japanese emperor for aid in liberating his homeland. The emperor gave him command of a division and launched an invasion of China in 1937. Mahmut Muhiti died of a heart attack in Xi'an, China in 1945 when the Japanese surrendered in World War II.